The present invention relates to cutting tools, and in particular to an apparatus and method for cutting a block of synthetic fibrous material to a desired shape.
It has been found desirable to construct a variety of different types of articles such as furniture pieces out of foam rubber or other synthetic fibrous materials. The foam rubber is cut to the basic shape of the article, and is then encapsulated with a fabric or other type of covering to provide the finished article. A wide variety of interesting and attractive articles can be constructed in this manner at relatively low cost.
One of the principal problems in constructing various furniture pieces and other articles in the above manner is cutting the foam rubber or other such material to the desired shape. It has been found that foam rubber can easily be cut by a heated wire, and it has become the common practice in the art to cut the rubber to the desired shape by holding such a wire taut, and making a plurality of cuts until the desired shape has been achieved. However, because the taut wire is necessarily linear, the number of shapes which can be cut from the foam rubber in this manner is seriously limited.
When relatively complex shapes are to be formed in foam rubber or other such material, it has been found useful to employ a relatively large diameter, stiff wire which can be formed to the desired shape, as illustrated in the patent to Rowlands, U.S. Pat. No. 3,610,078. However, such a heavy wire is difficult to construct in the desired shape, and is relatively expensive. Thus, the use of such a heavy wire is ordinarily commercially unfeasible in the production of furniture and other relatively low priced items. It should be noted that the Rowland patent deals with the making of foam rubber packing inserts for relatively expensive aircraft engine parts where cost is not a prohibitive factor.